Double or nothing: Astronomers rethink quasar environmentUsing Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) mounted on the Subaru Telescope, astronomers have identified nearly 200 'protoclusters,' the progenitors of galaxy clusters, in the early Universe, about 12 billion years ago, about ten times more than previously known.

New guidelines on preventing and treating 'equine strep throat'Ashley Boyle, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, took the lead in writing a new consensus statement, issued by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, on treating, controlling, and preventing strangles in horses.

Off-the-shelf smart devices found easy to hack'It only took 30 minutes to find passwords for most of the devices and some of them were found only through a Google search of the brand,' says Omer Shwartz, a Ph.D. student and member of Dr.

Algorithm could streamline harvesting of hand-picked cropsRichard Sowers, a professor of industrial and enterprise systems engineering and mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a team of students have developed an algorithm that promises to give valuable information to farmers of crops picked by hand.

Men and women have opposite genetic alterations in depressionMen and women with major depressive disorder (MDD) have opposite changes in the expression of the same genes, according to a new postmortem brain study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.

Multifunctional metalens unlocks with lightResearchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a flat optical component that is simultaneously a metalens, a microscope objective that can resolve details smaller than a wavelength of light, and an optical vortex and hologram generator.

Ultra-white coating modelled on beetle scalesResearchers have developed a super-thin, non-toxic, lightweight, edible ultra-white coating that could be used to make brighter paints and coatings, for use in the cosmetic, food or pharmaceutical industries.

Pterosaurs went out with a bang, not a whimperFossils of six new species of pterosaurs -- giant flying reptiles that flew over the heads of the dinosaurs -- have been discovered by a research team led by the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, revealing that this lineage was killed off in its prime.

Infected 'zombie ants' face no discrimination from nest matesCarpenter ants infected with a specialized parasitic fungus are not subjected to aggression or isolation from their nest mates, and they continue to share in the colony's food resources until they leave the nest for the last time to die, according to a study led by Penn State researchers.

Key drivers of high US healthcare spending identifiedThe major drivers of high healthcare costs in the US appear to be higher prices for nearly everything -- from physician and hospital services to diagnostic tests to pharmaceuticals -- and administrative complexity.

Best Science Podcasts 2018

The Right To SpeakShould all speech, even the most offensive, be allowed on college campuses? And is hearing from those we deeply disagree with ... worth it? This hour, TED speakers explore the debate over free speech. Guests include recent college graduate Zachary Wood, political scientist Jeffrey Howard, novelist Elif Shafak, and journalist and author James Kirchick.

#486 VolcanoesThis week we're talking volcanoes. Because there are few things that fascinate us more than the amazing, unstoppable power of an erupting volcano. First, Jessica Johnson takes us through the latest activity from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii to help us understand what's happening with this headline-grabbing volcano. And Janine Krippner joins us to highlight some of the lesser-known volcanoes that can be found in the USA, the different kinds of eruptions we might one day see at them, and how damaging they have the potential to be. Related links: Kilauea status report at USGS A beginner's guide to Hawaii's otherworldly...